Radiotherapy or chemotherapy, which hurts the body?

Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are both harmful to the body.

Radiotherapy mainly kills tumor cells through radiation, but it also causes some damage to normal tissues. Radiation in the process of irradiation of tumors may cause skin damage at the irradiation site, such as redness, itching, peeling and even ulceration. It may also affect the gastrointestinal tract, causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other discomfort; it also inhibits bone marrow, causing white blood cells, platelets, etc., resulting in decreased immunity and increased risk of bleeding.

Chemotherapy uses chemical drugs to prevent proliferation, invasion and metastasis of cancer cells. However, these drugs also affect normal cells. Chemotherapy often causes systemic adverse reactions, such as severe nausea and vomiting, affecting patients' eating and nutritional status. Chemotherapy may also cause bone marrow suppression, reducing blood cell production, causing anemia, infection and bleeding. In addition, chemotherapy may damage liver and kidney function, causing abnormal liver and kidney function; some chemotherapy drugs can also cause hair loss, oral mucositis, etc.

Although radiotherapy and chemotherapy are important means of treating cancer, they will inevitably cause different degrees of damage to the body. During the treatment process, doctors will comprehensively evaluate the specific conditions of patients, weigh the pros and cons, and minimize the impact of these injuries on the quality of life of patients. At the same time, they will take corresponding measures to alleviate and deal with these adverse reactions to ensure the smooth progress of treatment and the health of patients.